This web site supports Dr. Russell Sabella's work on educating children, parents, educators and other stake holders about the responsible use of technology. Included in these pages you will find helpful resources, lesson plans, links, and more.

The company released new guidelines surrounding doxxing and impersonation today.

Less than three weeks after Twitter CEO Dick Costolo admitted in an internal memo that the company “sucks” at dealing with abuse—and two months after the company made a first round of sweeping changes to address that deficiency— Twitter has taken even more aggressive steps toward dealing with abuse on its platform.

Thursday, February 26, 2015

This resource guide provides links to organizations, programs, publications, and resources focused on bullying prevention. It is divided into seven sections: (1) Organizations and Websites; (2) Data, Definitions, and Research; (3) Programs, Campaigns, and Toolkits; (4) Policies, Laws, and Legislation; (5) Publications and Resources; (6) At-Risk Populations; and (7) Bullying and Co-Occurring Issues. Each item in this resource guide includes a short description and a link to the resource itself. Descriptions of reports, guides, toolkits, campaigns, websites, and initiatives are, in most cases, excerpted from the resources themselves while descriptions of research studies are excerpted from the study abstracts.

Get it here: http://www.childrenssafetynetwork.org/resource/bullying-prevention-2014-resource-guide

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

The YouTube Kids app is designed for curious little minds to dive into a world of discovery, learning, and entertainment. This free app is easy to use and packed full of age-appropriate videos, channels and playlists. YouTube Kids features popular children’s programming, plus kid-friendly content from filmmakers, teachers, and creators all around the world.

Friday, February 6, 2015

A MAN faces 20 years in prison after being convicted of running a “revenge porn” website where people posted nude pictures of their ex-lovers, who then have to pay him to take them down.
Kevin Bollaert, 28, was found guilty of 27 counts, including identity theft and extortion, and faces up to 20 years in prison in San Diego. The jury was unable to reach verdicts on two charges of identity theft and conspiracy, and a judge declared a mistrial on the counts.

When Yik Yak was created it was intended to give everyone an equal voice. No one user would have an advantage over another based on followers or popularity and posts would be judged exclusively by their content. Yik Yak is a tool, but like many other tools and social media platforms, it has been used correctly by some and improperly by others. Bullying is something social media struggles with and we at Yik Yak have taken steps against bullying on the app.

A growing number of apps allow people to post anonymously. Some of the better known ones include Ask.fm, Whisper, Secret and Yik Yak but there are new ones all the time, including After School, that’s been downloaded more than 100,000 times including by students from more than 14,000 U.S. high schools, according to Recode.net.

As Recode pointed out, After School’s seven-person staff can’t possibly police all of the posts on this growing service, though the company says it does employ software to look for particularly alarming words like “kill,” “cut” and “bomb.” As TechCrunch reported, the app has been associated with numerous bullying incidents.